11-05-2025
'The Eternaut' review: Too short a season
Come for the apocalypse, stay for the allegory.
The Eternaut, Netflix's latest science fiction series, is an adaptation of a late 1950s Argentinian comic by the writer Hector German Oesterheld and artist Francisco Solano Lopez.
The initially apolitical Oesterheld "rebooted" the story in 1969 with artist Alberto Breccia at a time of rising political tension in his home country and inserted stronger allegorical themes into the story.
After joining a leftist revolutionary group opposing the ruling military junta, Oesterheld and his four daughters were subsequently kidnapped and disappeared in the 1970s, presumably killed.
In the years since, The Eternaut has come to be hailed as a bona fide literary landmark, with Sept 4 (the date of its first publication in 1957) now recognised as the Day of the Argentine Comic Book.
There's more history to the title and its writer's significance than this review can fit, so do continue researching it for some useful insight when viewing this Netflix adaptation. It is written and directed by Argentinian filmmaker Bruno Stagnaro, with Oesterheld's grandson Martin on board as a consultant.
'This swimming pool, with all the departed beside it ... it's a veritable Deadpo – no! If I say his name, he might appear.'
The story takes place in Buenos Aires, as a sudden snowfall proves lethal to anyone who comes in contact with the, um, snowflakes.
Those fortunate to be indoors, such as the everyman protagonist Juan Salvo (Ricardo Darin), struggle to figure out what's happening as communications systems also fail. (Cue that line from The Phantom Menace...)
The Eternaut starts with a narrow focus, on just Juan and his immediate buddies, steadily expanding with each of its six Season One instalments: from house to apartment block, block to street, street to neighbourhood, and neighbourhood to city, with the veil lifted slowly each time to give us glimpses of what's happening.
(For a similar vibe, consider the Steven Spielberg-Tom Cruise War Of The Worlds, which took an "ant on the ground" view of an alien invasion.)
There's another mystery unfolding as this particular invasion develops: Juan's frequent flashbacks and possible flash-forwards – revisiting his experiences in the Falklands War and sometimes, situations of which he has no memory, hinting they might be from his future.
First, 'The Eternaut', then 'Starship Trooper's – is it a coincidence that space bugs seem to love Buenos Aires?
As it becomes apparent that not all survivors can be trusted, and (what we believe to be) human collaborators with the invaders perpetrate heinous acts, we begin to wonder just how much of the story we will get to see before the end of the season.
The answer: sorry, it ends on an abrupt note. Brace for the (already confirmed) next season, when answers will be forthcoming and the showrunners promise things will get even wilder (like that bizarre multidigited extremity glimpsed in one scene here isn't wild enough).
The consequence: this first season seems maddeningly unfulfilling, stopping where it does. Also, to hold stuff back for the next batch, and keep things going for six episodes until this (presumed) halfway mark, there are frequent pacing issues. This only makes us wish they'd done the whole saga in one go, as an eight- or 10-episode limited series.
The bright side: The Eternaut has loads of striking visuals and constant suspense from not knowing what will befall our beleaguered protagonists next. There is also a pervasive, creeping sense of helplessness slowly eroding their faint hope; at first, that may not seem like any kind of brightness – but it is, from the perspective of effective storytelling.
While some of its more specific metaphors may elude non-Argentinian viewers, the world in general is no stranger to fascism and imperialism, not even in these ought-to-be-enlightened times.
The Eternaut is perhaps a fitting release in these days when reality has taken on entirely different dimensions, thanks to science and the facts no longer being factors in many people's thinking (though I hesitate to call it that).
It used to be that science fiction was a lens through which we could sometimes consider real-world concerns in an exaggerated manner that was still a "safe space" for ideas. That lens is now a mirror, though it's up for debate which is the object, and which is the reflection.
All six episodes of The Eternaut Season One are available to stream on Netflix.
